C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER

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Jan 02 //
Matthew Razak[embed]159371:26261[/embed]
Yes, Lucid is about grouping blocks of the same color together, and, yes, you've done that a million times, but it does have a twist. In Lucid you have to group blocks together with an unbroken line. This means that you must be able to create a group of blocks of the same color that can have a line drawn from one to the other without that line crossing itself or stopping. Once you connect the blocks in such a way they disappear from the playing field and you get points, which, as all good gamers know, are good.
However, unlike most other games of this ilk points are not how you clear a level. Levels are cleared by filling the Earth Dome. I'm a little unclear on the story for the game, but certain colors of blocks are requested by someone and the color requested is shown on the screen with the next color in line shown below it. When one connects a grouping of blocks in the requested color it fills the Earth Dome a certain amount depending on the number of blocks connected. Once the Earth Dome is filled the player moves on to the next level. In the levels I played it was pretty easy to fill the Earth Dome, but Miettinen says it will become more and more challenging throughout the 77 levels in the game.
When you send blocks to the Earth Dome you receive a point multiplier, which goes up with every consecutive shipment of blocks to it. Needless to say planning ahead is a major part of each level since chaining together shipments of task blocks can net you quite an uptick in the point category. However, it appears that it will also be strategic to eliminate other colors that are not the requested one as you can often score big points with them as well and organize the board better to chain together task block shipments. This seems to create an interesting strategy where the player must weigh getting the multiplier versus eliminating a color of brick that is not being requested. When I was playing I know I would attempt to clear as many bricks as possible right before filling up the Earth Dome so as to get my score as high as possible in the level.
Of course sometimes you get yourself stuck or just want to get a rearrangement of blocks. This is where Lucid blocks come into play. Every time a player completes a designated amount of task colors in a row they are rewarded with a Lucid block that resets the entire board with new colors once the block is cleared. This can be a great way to get your score higher before the level ends or try for an even higher chain. Even in the very early easy levels I played saving them for later use was a strategy in itself. As the game progresses Lucid blocks will become more and more difficult to obtain, meaning organization becomes more and more important for clearing a level.
Sadly, the preview I played was only three levels long and pretty easy to get through leaving me with only a bit of challenge in beating the levels and the only goal really being trying to get the highest score possible. However, it's easy to see how Lucid could become an immensely challenging and addicting game with ramped up difficulty and more creative hurdles that Miettinen says the rest of the game will provide.
If you want to check out a demo of the game for yourself you can head here to download it.

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Feb 11 //
NO LONGER WORKS AT DESTRUCTOIDCelebrating Cashwh0re's 6 year anniversary and also our 2 month anniversary of lying about it, we have to have a way of enjoying it with you. Destructoid loves our community, and we also love, need our life juice, overly enjoy, sometimes imbibe in the spirits. So to combine these two great things we will be buying the booze for you. This could be the best $14.95 you will ever spend. Especially if you are underage! Destructoid.com does not condone the use of alcohol by minors... but Cashwh0re does. So next week if we spot you at GDC, or around San Francisco, in a Cashwh0re shirt, we are buying you a drink. (Bail money not included in T-shirt offer) But wait! How can you win? Well, for no clear reason, I cannot control my hate for Paris Hilton. So make me laugh by adding a caption to the attached Paris Hilton picture, and we will send out shirts to the 3 funniest entries.

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